An Average Of 12 Buyers Target The Same Property In England – Countrywide

Have you ever been up against other would-be buyers when trying to purchase a new home?

According to Countrywide’s recent report, each new property popping up on England’s residential property market is targeted by a staggering average of 12 would-be buyers. Once again, this confirms that demand continues to outstrip supply.

The number of buyers chasing each property is the highest since 2008 and represents an increase of more than 20% over the same period of 2013, when an average of 9.7 people were setting their sights on every new property. Demand, unsurprisingly, was the highest in London, where there were 25 people chasing each new property in January-March 2014.

In its quarterly housing market review, Countrywide also highlighted the success of the government’s Help to Buy programme, which has helped fund almost one in five purchases of newly-built property since April 2013. In some regions, the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme was even responsible for half of the property transactions made. In Newcastle, for instance, 49% of new private homes built in the last nine months have found their owners through the scheme, according to the report.

The Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme had facilitated the sale of 14,823 new properties just ten months after its launch, with first-time buyers accounting for the largest share of people making use of the government initiative. It was particularly popular in the North East, where 28% of new residential properties were sold through the scheme. Only 9% of Londoners, meanwhile, have so far uses this method of purchasing a house.

Have you heard of the Help to Buy scheme? And will you be taking advantage of it?